A Different Kind of Love Story
by moonygarou
Summary: When Sirius is sent into hiding as the Potters' Secret Keeper, Dumbledore sends him to a lonely cottage. There's just one tiny problem ... he's not alone.


**Disclaimer:**Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling. All works posted at this community were written entirely for fun without making any profit. No copyright infringement is intended.

**Author Note: **This was written for the Regulus Fest at Livejournal. Don't like the pairing don't read it!

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Sirius knew that sooner or later it would have come to this point anyway. That being James and Lily's secret keeper wasn't going to be a dream job and that he would have to go into hiding. But for Dumbledore himself to arrange a place for him to stay had come as a surprise.

Going into hiding wasn't the problem, it was really the way the old man had offered him, no, had actually btold/b him to go without giving Sirius the chance to protest. He had been given a few warnings as well. Like the fact that he was supposed to use as little magic as possible, that he shouldn't be worrying about food, it would get stocked up by itself, and that he would be sharing the place with someone else who had been forced into hiding as well.

What irked Sirius the most about it wasn't the fact that he wasn't supposed to use any magic, alright, that was a small part of it, but truth be told, it was the fact that he was supposed to leave Remus to be all by himself. He knew that he could do no more to help James and Lily, he had done all he could for them and little Harry, but it felt hard to simply leave Remus behind. The two were finally starting to get along again and now Dumbledore tore them apart once more. Sirius didn't find that fair at all. However, he had been reminded that nothing in life was fair and he would just have to suck it up. That was followed by a portkey being pushed into his hands, sending him to the place where he would have to spend the following several weeks.

Precisely in the middle of nowhere.

He was standing in the centre of a forest clearing and as his dizziness from the sudden transportation slowly disappeared, he spotted a small cottage just a little ahead of him. It looked rather old, as if it had already survived many years of battle, but the structure seemed sturdy and not likely to send the walls crashing down around his ears during a storm. He took a small step forward and stopped instantly again as he felt magic flow through his skin, sending a small shiver down his back.

"Protection charms," Sirius muttered, and tried to take a small step backwards again, not surprised at immediately finding himself leaning against an invisible wall. "Stupid, meddling bastard," he added distractedly and then walked once more towards the house. In his right hand he held the bag he had quickly packed before meeting with Dumbledore as he had been certain that he was going to be sent into hiding. It held all the clothes he had been able to fit in there, his toiletries, the book that Moony had given him on his last birthday ("The collected works of Sherlock Holmes"), and some pictures that held some sentimental value to him.

As his hand touched the doorknob he stopped for a moment. He had no idea who he would have to share the house with and he hoped it wasn't going to be someone like Snape, because then this could quickly turn into a version of hell. Not that it could be Snape, he told himself, the man had disappeared months ago and it seemed no one was really sure where he had gone to. That thought didn't really soothe his nerves, but he finally managed to get himself to turn the doorknob. Letting the door slide open in front of him, he quietly stepped inside and closed it behind himself.

The house seemed quiet, and Sirius was sure that he would have been able to hear a pin drop from the back of the place. Putting his bag on the floor, he crouched down to take off his shoes as he heard footsteps from the upper floor, which seemed to come right to a halt at the top of the stairs. At first, Sirius's whole body stilled, then his hand instinctively reached for his wand as he slowly moved to stand and look at the person who was staring down at him.

Only to look at the person he had least expected to see in a place like this. His brother.

Once the two Black brothers had come over their initial shocks, and had tried to see who could stare the other one down the longest, they had both retreated into the small living room, settling on either corner of the couch with a bottle of firewhiskey standing on the small coffee table in front of them, soon half empty.

"So explain this to me again so I can get it right," Sirius said, nursing his third glass of whiskey. His features had softened a little due to the alcohol and not like before when he had looked ready to murder his brother.

"I've already explained it three times," Regulus replied with a small groan. His head was lying back against the couch, his eyes closed, the firewhiskey seemingly affecting him more than his older brother.

Regulus was right, of course. He had told Sirius the whole story of what had happened to Kreacher, how he had witnessed his best friend punished, tortured to death, and that he in the process had righteously panicked. Due to some kind of miracle that Sirius couldn't yet completely comprehend, because Regulus had become a little quiet at that point and hadn't been so keen on giving too many details, his brother had ended up going to Dumbledore for help. Which had resulted in him being in his current location, locked up in a cottage with his brother.

"I thought you were dead," Sirius murmured after a while, taking another sip from his drink and only now taking a closer look at his brother, now that he had the chance while the other wasn't looking.

Regulus looked tired, a lot older than he was supposed to for his age. His skin seemed to stretch tightly over the bones, his skin pale against the dark hair that was so typical for the Black family. There was a small scar on his right jaw, and Sirius had to pull himself together not to reach out and touch it. The two had gone different ways as soon as Sirius had run away from home, but there hadn't been one day where Sirius had not regretted leaving Regulus alone with the two people they had called their parents.

"Rumours of my death have been highly overrated, and quit staring at me, it's unbecoming," Regulus muttered, his eyes still closed and Sirius's expression turned into a momentary glare until he saw the slight smile tugging at Regulus's lips. There was so much the two would have to catch up on, and now was the right opportunity. Not that they had any other choice.

And catch up they did.

The two brothers had ended up talking throughout the rest of the day, late into the night. Sirius couldn't remember the last time they had talked like this, and finally noted with sadness that they actually never had. Home life had never given them the chance to talk freely to one another in any kind of way. Once Sirius had started at Hogwarts things had changed so drastically that there hadn't even been an opportunity to talk to his brother, and their parents had done everything in their power to keep his younger brother away from him. And then Sirius had run away, and he had thought he had ruined everything forever.

So now… now the past was ready to let itself be forgotten, and when the first rays of sun came through the terrace doors, the two grown men were lying together on the couch, the larger holding the smaller one in his arms, fast asleep.

The peace, however, didn't last.

After three days of being cooped up in a house like this Sirius was growing edgy. He could live with the fact that there was only one bed in the house, that Regulus talked in his sleep and that he had a habit of throwing his limbs everywhere during the night. He had no problem with Regulus's cheerful mood when he woke in the morning, or that he spent his days curled up somewhere reading.

The problems were a lot more objective. At least Sirius told himself so. He couldn't stand to see bthat/b mark burned into his brother's forearm. He couldn't bear not knowing what was happening to his friends, whether everyone was safe and if the Fidelius Charm was still holding. However, what riled him up the most had happened that morning.

He had just gotten up, and was looking forward to a nice hot shower and then a strong black cup of coffee. Still bleary-eyed he had stepped into the bathroom, instantly waking up as he saw Regulus there, looking just as shocked. It wasn't the problem that his brother had been naked, the problem was how good his brother had looked naked. Even if thinner than he should have been, Regulus's body had looked good enough to eat and Sirius had immediately wondered how the younger man would react if he ran his fingers down that pale back. It had given Sirius an instant boner. Shocked by his own arousal, he had muttered a small apology and fled.

At first, Sirius acted as if nothing had happened, pretending that he hadn't seen Regulus naked and that the erection had simply been a reaction to some dream he had had during the night. However, every time he caught himself watching Regulus that day, the more he felt the urge to kiss him. He wanted to find out how it felt to run his fingers and lips down that pale neck, and what kind of noise Regulus could create. He yearned to wrap his lips around that beautiful shaft, and suck every last drop out of those balls. But he couldn't. And no matter how much incest seemed to be a common phenomenon in the Black family, Sirius told himself he wouldn't succumb to it.

It seemed to go very well with this decision. At first.

Sirius and Regulus had already gotten into a quite regular routine. While Sirius had agreed to do most of the cooking, ever since his brother had tried to cook and they had had to air out the whole house for an entire day, Regulus had agreed to do the dishes. And, furthermore, the two had agreed to both do their share of cleaning. Once this was settled, it seemed as though nothing had ever been wrong between them. Of course they still had their small quarrels. Sirius would complain once a day how horrible it was to be stuck in this place, and Regulus would just stare at him and tell him that they were both lucky to be alive. That usually shut Sirius up for a good 24 hours before the whole process started again.

Then, as their relationship grew less tense, and the two seemed to be spending more time with one another at night, talking about anything really, Sirius felt the urge to show his brother more of himself. So, after dinner one night, he transformed into Padfoot right under his brother's nose.

At first, there was complete silence. Then Regulus shouted, how stupid Sirius had been and that he could have gotten himself into serious trouble. Which was followed by more silence, while Padfoot simply looked up at Regulus, looking as innocent as a newborn puppy. It had the wanted result, and Regulus finally moved to kneel down in front of the large black dog and stroked through the black fur.

Feeling those fingers, even if it was only in his fur, reminded Sirius of what he had seen in the shower that other day. It made him think of the dreams that he kept on having of wanting to suck his brother's erection, wanting to make him feel good in every way possible. All those conflicting feelings rushed up again, and Sirius had no idea how he was supposed to hide them from Regulus any longer.

Going to bed that night was the worst. For hours, he lay awake on his side of the bed, wondering what he should do to solve the mess he would cause if he wasn't careful. He ended up turning around, smiling weakly as he looked at his brother, then frowned as he heard him whimper and reached out to stroke some hair out of his face. He let his fingers linger on Regulus's cheek for a moment longer than they should have and then pulled his hand away quickly, once more promising himself that he wouldn't be coming on to his brother no matter how tempting he was.

That promise held for 2 days, 13 hours, 30 minutes and 45 seconds.

Sirius had cooked them lunch, at least one task during the day where he felt somewhat useful and the two Black brothers had agreed on sharing the washing up that day. Which somehow ended up in them splashing water at one another, as if they were 5 years old and hadn't anything else more important to do. Sirius couldn't really remember how it had started, but at the end the two were soaked from head to toe, laughing loudly as if they had never done anything else in their lives. And Sirius, as impulsive as ever, wasn't able to stop himself as he cupped Regulus's face in his hands and pressed a kiss against those tempting lips.

At first, nothing happened and then slowly Regulus seemed to recover from the shock and was kissing him back. Time seemed to stand still around them, tongues gliding slowly against each other, hands exploring the other's body that was so similar to their own. Just as Sirius was about to push his hand under Regulus's shirt, the younger man realised what was happening and suddenly pushed his brother away. Sirius, who wasn't expecting such a sudden reaction, stumbled backwards and nearly slipped on the wet floor, his hands reaching out to grab hold of the kitchen table.

"What was that about?" Sirius asked, shocked, his lips still tingling from the feeling of having just kissed his brother, something that he definitely wanted to do again.

"You can't just kiss me!" Regulus shouted back, looking rather flustered. His cheeks were flushed and his lips slightly swollen from the kiss, looking rather kissable in Sirius's opinion.

"I was kissing you, and you didn't seem to mind that much until the moment you pushed me away," Sirius replied with a small huff. He straightened a little and started to walk towards Regulus again, a curious expression dawning on his face as his brother immediately moved backwards until he was leaning against the kitchen wall, panting.

"You're my brother!" Regulus once more countered.

"So?" Sirius asked, trapping Regulus against the wall, his hands on either side of Regulus's head. Having just kissed his brother and now being this close to him again made his senses go wild, and he couldn't stop himself from leaning in to breathe in Regulus's scent. He instantly felt Regulus's hands pushing against his chest, strong at first and then growing weaker with every moment that passed, in the end fisting his fingers in Sirius's shirt.

"Sirius…" Regulus whispered hoarsely, his voice sounding defeated for a moment, as if the internal battle of how wrong this usually was had been lost.

"We're at war, Reg… who knows if we're going to survive to see tomorrow. Let's just live for now, and think about the consequences when the time comes," Sirius said, sounding serious for once, something that didn't happen all too often except among those who really knew him. The promise that he had made to himself a few days ago, forgotten.

"Okay…" Regulus replied, and that was all Sirius needed to lean in and kiss Regulus again.

Tomorrow, they could think more about this. Today, was just about forgetting and ignoring the horrible world around them.


End file.
